Old Order
by jupitermonkey4
Summary: With the defeat of the Grimm and salvation of Remnant, humanity hovers closer to the edge of extinction than ever before. Weiss must learn to balance the wants of her people against their needs, finding out once and for all what it means to truly lead. And she must do it quickly, before the winter truly begins.
1. Chapter 1

"No! I won't leave them!" shrieked Weiss, fighting against the hold of the ragged Atlesian who was dragging her along.

"Damnit, that's no- shit!" the soldier cursed, dropping Weiss hard onto the floor.

Weiss felt the wind get driven out of her as her back slammed into a jagged rock. All around her, black obsidian fell in droves from the collapsing castle, crushing friend and foe alike. Weiss heard the repeated bark of a pistol above her as the soldier emptied his clip.

Even writhing in pain, Weiss rolled onto her stomach, trying to crawl back towards the stairs she'd been dragged from. Gasping, she looked up at the dissolving form of a Beowulf, though others like it were emerging from the cracks in the wall like fungus.

Two hands settled under her armpits and hefted her to her feet, dragging her once again from her goal.

"Let me go!" Weiss sobbing violently as she thrashed with what little strength she had left.

The man ignored her, instead shouting to the rest of the living as they fought their way out of the building. Another Atlesian and a scruffy, cloth covered Vacuoan in goggles rushed up to them, muzzles flaring as they poured fire into the oncoming Grimm.

A few others joined them, each bearing the respective marks of their kingdoms. They took cover behind the bodies of their countrymen, firing desperately as they fought a hard retreat.

Weiss' eyes widened as the Grimm oozed through the ceiling, dropping Beowulves on top of the defenders. One of the men who had stepped forwards to save them was crushed, not even uttering a cry as his hardened ceramic armour splintered into a hundred pieces. The Vacuoan, who was now obviously had the figure of a woman, howled in fury as she drove the bayoneted end of her rifle into the creature, accompanied by rounds of ammunition.

"Please, Miss, you have to get up!" said the soldier, his voice hoarse. Weiss numbly staggered to her feet, her hand wrapped tight around Myrtenaster's hilt. She felt the soldier press his pistol into her hand, before he slammed a fresh clip into his own rifle and roared.

She could see him clearly now, and saw a single dull brown eye through where his vizor had once been. The rest was either covered in blood or blocked by what was left of his helmet. His armour had been crumpled, clinging uselessly to his uniform.

The cry of the dying brought her mind back into line, and she raised her pistol. She fired rounds into the Grimm who seemed about to finish one of the rapidly dwindling number of humans around them. Though, there weren't just humans. Pushing past her was a White Fang trooper, his uniform long since fallen into disrepair and mask discarded.

She didn't have a chance to see his face before he was impaled with feathers, flung from freshly formed Lesser Nevermore. He collapsed to the ground with a meaty thud, landing next to the body of a Beacon student who couldn't have been done with his first year.

Weiss' cap- no, her saviour, swore and dropped his rifle, tearing a knife from his belt. "I'm dry."

The click of her pistol accompanied this worrisome announcement, and she tucked it into her belt with a sigh. "As am I."

Weiss looked beyond the rows and rows of torn bodies towards the staircase at the end of the long atrium they were dying in. While her friends had charged up that staircase, she and Miss Goodwitch had stayed behind to deal with Arthur Watts. The headmistress' purple cloak still poked out from underneath the rubble of a column, it's owner charred black in her suicidal attack to put the man down.

So many had been lost to get her friends up those stairs, but before Weiss could think any further on it, the ceiling above them began to come apart at the seams. Small cracks splinters and fell, crushing friend and foe alike. Weiss could see the men and women around her fighting desperately without purpose, unsure whether to run or stand in the face of death. Frantically, her eyes flickered between the living and the staircase, before shuddering and drawing Myrtenaster.

With tears in her eyes, she raised her blade high in the air and shouted the most difficult words in her entire life: "Fall back!"

What remained of the greatest army Remnant had ever seen gave a final, ragged roar of desperation and ran towards Weiss, who wavered and leaned on the broken soldier. Those who weren't crushed or cut down raced out of the twin doors of the citadel, down the steps and sprinted across dark maroon earth that lay clear ahead of them.

No Grimm challenged them in the open field as they ran as fast as they could away from the building, every creature charging and flying towards the topmost spire of the citadel. Weiss took a chance to look backwards as she ran, eyes wide as silver light blasted out of the shattered windows. It lit up the Grimmlands like a sun, then went out like a candle in the dark.

The whole world seemed to shutter. There was silence as even the Grimm stopped in their tracks to watch. And then the tower exploded, every single brick and shard flying outwards in a frenzy like a million hornets. Below it, the building collapsed inward; and the dreaded Castle Evernight was no more.

The Grimm around the castle were slaughtered by the collapse, and Weiss had to shield her eyes from the dust. Those had hadn't were frozen into statues by Ruby's silver eyes. When it settled, she opened her tear stained eyes and stared at the rubble. Inside it was everyone she had ever cared about. Every person that Weiss had left after all these years of senseless violence was buried in that rubble.

Words and tears had abandoned Weiss, and so she fell face first into the ground and whimpered silently. No one cheered at the rubble. No one found pride or purchase in its destruction. Instead they all watched on as a pillar of black smoke rose from the ruins.

The soldier sat noisily next to Weiss, gasping for breath as he tore off his helmet and tossed it to the side, a faint red light blinking on the outside of it. Men and women fell heavily to the ground, some gasping their dying breaths.

Smoke rose from the wrecks of countless burning warships and transports scattered across the massive field, bright flames doting distant cliff sides and plateaus.

All the world had come together in this final hour, each country and creed setting aside their own pride in the face of an apocalypse. Atlas had given every soldier and automaton they could, covering the skies with battleships and carriers, blanketing the ground with Knights and Paladins. The tribes of Vacuo had gathered into a moot for the first time since the Great Colour War, united under the banner of a chosen Khan, Sun Wukong. Mistral had barely any Huntsmen left, but they came all the same, alongside militia teams, Fang Remnants and all the military hardware that the crime families could scrounge up. And Vale…

Vale sent Huntsmen. All of them, and anyone who was close enough to be damned well called one. Teachers, Students, Criminals, Emergency Responders, anyone with their aura unlocked and a weapon with a trigger. All had come, some more willingly than others, but it didn't matter.

Almost every single one of them was dead.

Weiss sat on her haunches and tried to regain her breath. Her eyes glazed over at the sea of destruction, letting out a small cough as the smoke stung lungs.

"They did it…" said a feminine voice behind Weiss. Its owner stepped forward, revealing the Vacuoan skirmisher from before. What had once been an antique hunting rifle was clenched tightly in her hands, twisted beyond repair.

"Aye, they did," mumbled the man next to Weiss, running a hand through a mop of slick brown hair. Weiss was tempted to ask their names, but decided against it. She didn't want to bury anymore names in her lifetime.

Instead, Weiss settled for standing. Rising shakily to her feet, she dug Myrtenaster into the ground as a support. Her dress was in ruins, but she tore what was left of the hem and handed it to the still bleeding man.

The man quietly thanked her, but Weiss had already turned to the skirmisher. "How many are de- how many do we have left?"

The woman sighed and shrugged, wincing at some invisible wound. "We've got about twenty people left. About eight of those won't make it through the night, and that's only at first glance."

Twenty. Twenty damn people are all that's left. Twenty-four hours ago there were hundreds of thousands of huntsmen and soldiers, all making ready for this attack. Weiss shuddered, thankful that the acrid smoke blocked out the stench of death. The battlefield in front of her felt wrong, as though all these people had just… stopped. Grimm left no corpses, making it impossible for her to see the score they had settled.

Weiss tightened her mouth, eyes narrowing. Her body ached but obeyed her wishes as she took a step forward, wincing as she staggered to the closest body. It was dressed in bright orange and blue, two ornate daggers discarded next to it. Weiss dropped to one knee and turned it face up.

Bright green eyes stared up at nothing, the man's torn mouth hung open. Weiss sighed, stood up, and moved to the next one. It was the same story, so she moved on to the next one.

It was mechanical, if she was being honest. Staring death in the face over and over again became normal in the last days of their journey, pleading for the Kingdoms to unite. When Weiss wondered if she was doing more harm than good, she looked among the dead in search of the living. And when she found them, she knew she was doing the right thing. And when she didn't, Weiss believed more and more that they couldn't stop. If they did, then what would all the deaths be for?

But in a field like this, Weiss felt daunted. What could possibly justify so great a sacrifice? How could there be a future built on this many bodies? Even if there was never another death lost in battle, the cost would have been too great for her to order again.

One of the Mistralian militiamen that had joined with them walked past her, stooping down to check a body close to a downed Bullhead. The soldier joined him, and soon all those that could walk were shifting through the bodies.

Weiss plodded forwards, digging one after the other out of the blood soaked mud. A few shook and quaked, caught in their final moments. All Weiss could do was stroke their heads and sit with them as they passed. But then it was on to the next one.

She wished she could feel more at their passing, but in truth she didn't have the strength. A few shouts she could hear signalled the rare living that could be saved, and that was all it took to keep her going. Clawing at the mud, clambering through burnt out wrecks, all the while slowly making her way towards the ruins of Evernight.

"There will be something more than this. There has to be," she mumbled, trying not to recognize the faces she turned over under that wretched moon.

* * *

"Ma'am, you have to stop. You'll die if you don't rest."

Weiss ignored him, clawing at the sharp obsidian below her. She could distantly feel the cuts forming and growing on her hands, but kept moving with mechanical determination. It was that damned soldier again, trying to keep her from her friends for the second time today.

There was silence for a while, save for the shifting of rubble. She could hear him hopping from one foot to the other before trying again.

"We've recovered food and blankets from one of the battleships, it would be best if you-"

"_Leave me,_" hissed Weiss, grunting as she worked to shift a rock half her size out of the way.

He stood there for a little while longer before sighing and walking down towards the makeshift campsite. She was glad to hear they had recovered some essentials. If they could get enough real medicine then it would go a long way to keeping some more alive. The group hadn't really spread out much to search for the wounded, and instead followed Weiss' lead until they began searching the remains of the Atlas fleet. The vast battleships were smoking ruins, but some were partially accessible and combed for survivors. As they went, the group had gathered as many supplies as possible and dragged them back to the wounded.

The lack of medical supplies was worrying though, and Weiss could only assume this was because of how the medbay was placed on each ship. Standard Atlas aerial combat procedure was to gain as high an altitude as possible on attacking Grimm, and use their point-defense systems to keep the Grimm trapped below the incredibly thick under armour. This strategy meant it was best to place the highest priority targets on the top of the ship. The bridge, manufactorium and medbay all sat well out of reach of desperate claws.

Sadly, that meant that when the ships crashed, the medbay and bridges were trapped out of reach of any quick rescue. Normally there would be a support team that could be deployed from the rest of the battlegroup to evacuate survivors, but the magnitude of the battle had meant… It meant no one was going to be evacuated.

And with the fires of the ships burning brighter and higher throughout the ships, the odds of getting to anything before the fires burned it out were slim. But then again, everything about their lives seemed slim and dire up until now.

The world finally had a chance at peace, but Weiss had never felt so hopeless.

Her fingers sunk into the obsidian once again and lifted a stone, before damn near dropping it right on top of the familiar face.

Weiss hurled the rock to the side and gave out a hoarse cry. "Yang! Oh gods, please-no,oh please!"

She tore at the rubble in a frenzy, screaming in one long breathless voice of terror. Her mind ached for her to stop and put the rubble back, to run away from this confrontation. Instead she doubled down, ignoring cuts to her knees and hands that cut straight to the bone.

Voices neared from behind her, shouting concern as a few people climbed up towards her. Weiss soon had her chest free, and watched it intently.

A minute passed by without any discernable movement, and all Weiss could do was lower her head into the crook of her friends neck, weeping softly into the hair of her friends corpse.

"Why… why did all of you have to leave me… why didn't I die?" she cried, pressing her tear stained face against Yang's, trying not to think of how pale she was.

Then, it slowly dawned on her. Her skin was pale, but it wasn't ice cold like Weiss had known bodies to grow after such time had passed. Eye's wide, she held her ear close to Yang's mouth and could just barely hear the faintest breathing. Her chest wasn't rising, not that she could see, but that was all Weiss needed.

"Help me!" She shouted to the those clambering up, looking back to see three men moving up to her as fast as possible. Frantically, she started to shove rubble away from Yang's limp body, and soon three pairs joined her as they dug.

Weiss' shoes kept slipping on the loose rubble, so she kicked them off. Barefoot, she dug her heels into the shard-like ground and settle her hands under Yang's shoulders, struggling to move her. The others scrambled and shouted to one another as they pulled her out and settled her on to the ground. Weiss collapsed onto the ground as they secured her, placing Yang's head on her lap. A fourth person rushed up, a Valean medic by the looks of her tattered uniform.

She set a nearly empty bag of supplies down next to Yang and got to work examining her, an intense look of determination on her face as she tore away at Yang's outfit to get at the cuts and sickeningly purple bruises that spread across her whole body.

Weiss never even felt herself slipping into the void.

* * *

**A/N: Heyo! Welcome to my brand new story, Old Order! This story is set within the same universe as Painting Penance, but you don't need to read that one to enjoy this!**

**This is a story from Weiss' POV set immediately after the end of RWBY. It's got all the exciting issues of supply, scavenging, sickness, laws, morale, diplomacy, war and the eternal battle to stay warm when the night seems coldest. **

**I hope you like what you see, there will be plenty more to come!**


	2. Chapter 2

Weiss' eyes cracked open, gazing up at the ever-purple sky of the Grimmlands. She instantly felt nauseous as her vision swam, her skin red hot against the arid ground. She lay there, unmoving for a few minutes before she slowly eased herself onto her forearms.

Her chest felt heavy, and as she sat up she felt layers fall away from her. Her eyes flew open at the sight above and below her. Forming a makeshift mattress and blanket were piles of old uniforms and outfits. Some were clean, others burnt, and some reeked of death.

Eye's shifting upwards she could see men and women sitting around small campfires, most with some sort of bandage or sling on one of their limbs. Each had a weapon sitting close at hand, but none seemed eager to fight for anything. They spoke in hushed voices, and Weiss could only tell they were speaking from the way they moved.

She looked to her left and saw the figure of a person lying

completely still under a pile of jackets, their face covered.

"Weiss? Oh thank the Gods, you're alright!" came a familiar voice from her right. Whipping her head around she saw Jaune Arc, alive and well.

Weiss' mouth hung open and she immediately tried to rise to her feet, but Jaune pushed her back down.

"Whoa there, easy Weiss. You've been out for a while, don't go nuts," Jaune said soothingly, his hands glowing white as he fed some of his Aura into her own. The cool, familiar rush of his Semblance was enough to ease her back into place.

Weiss opened her mouth to talk, but it felt like her throat was covered in sandpaper. Jaune must have realized, because he rushed a small canteen of water to her lips. She drank greedily, mourning every drop that spilled onto the cracked earth.

Satisfied and a little less disoriented, Weiss leaned on the kneeling Jaune as she tried to regain control of her breathing.

"They told me you passed out on top of the rubble, digging out Yang," Jaune spoke softly, adjusting to let her sit easier.

"H-How is Yang?" Weiss rasped, trying to remember what she could before she lost consciousness. "Is she…?"

"Yang's fine, Weiss." Weiss let out a sigh of relief, and looked up to smile at Jaune, only to see his hesitation. Eventually, he continued with a slight frown.

"She's still out cold though, and the medics don't know when she'll wake up. She took way more of a beating than I did beforehand, and we both know how she gets." Jaune looked away, as though it was somehow his fault that she hadn't bounced back yet.

Weiss mulled over the news, chewing the inside of her mouth before responding slowly. "Well… what matters is that she's alive. One step at a time."

"Yeah. Right," Jaune nodded.

"But you said 'before', right? Before what?" Weiss prodded.

Jaune got a far-off look in his eyes. "Before Ruby finally put an end to this nightmare."

The enormity of that statement didn't so much slam into Weiss as crawl up her spine like ice. She had already known that to be the truth, but hearing it confirmed was another thing entirely.

"The- then she really did it?" Weiss whispered, hardly able to believe that it was truly over.

"Yeah. The others were split up across Evernight with the rest of the soldiers, holding back the rest of Salem's cronies and Grimm. Ruby, Yang, Oscar and myself went to the top of the tower, and there we found …her." Jaune clenched his teeth, his fists knotting in this ruined jeans. "Before we had even all made it through the door, she killed Oscar. Ozpin's magic couldn't save him, and we had no backup. So, we fought on. Yang got the worst of it, and must have crawled back into the fight half a dozen times." Jaune recounted, and Weiss could see the events flickering behind his eyes.

"I got tossed around like a ragdoll, but Ruby didn't. She stood her ground and fought an immortal to a standstill."

"And Ruby… did it work…?" Weiss trailed off, already dreading the answer.

Jaune was silent, before nodding slowly. "It worked but… I'm sorry."

Weiss looked down, feeling another wave of exhaustion slam into her.

"We'll… we'll talk when we're safe again… I promise," he said kindly after a while.

She just nodded in response, already far away and thinking of rose petals.

She just wished she had the strength to cry.

* * *

"We can't stay here for more than a day, much less half a week!" Weiss protested hotly

"Well, I don't know what you expect me to do. Walk or find your own ride, I ain't flying this blasted thing without some time to make sure it won't explode!" came the muffled shout from the belly of the Bullhead.

Weiss sighed and pinched her forehead. She was out of commission for only a few hours, but after chewing on those nasty Aura field-supplements and some generous boosting from Jaune, she was staggering around the camp as good as new. Or, well, as good as she could get.

Jaune had protested, but Weiss knew she was taking his time, supplies and a valuable bed that someone else could really use. Instead, she had seen to figuring out if anyone had a plan for getting a ton of wounded across a desert and then an ocean without everyone turning into an archeological treasure trove.

What she found was that a wide-spread malais had settled all across the camp. People had given into low muttering and dark looks, all waiting for something to happen. Weiss had been angry at first, but after Jaune settled her down she coldly understood their lack of direction.

The entire military structure of each Kingdom had just been gutted, formal or informal. Not to mention, being one of the few survivors of a suicide mission wasn't exactly easy. The Vacuoan's had bounced back the best out of everyone, though. They were at least still going out on scouting missions and hassling a few others to come scavenge with them when they could be bothered.

So, Weiss had sought out the only other group who seemed to be _doing _anything productive.

The White Fang. It wasn't going great.

"Well, how else are we going to get all these people _out_ of here? These wounded need real medical attention that doesn't come out of a tent!" Weiss said.

"If we're lucky, we can probably make it to one of the boats the Mistralians left behind, but that's about it," answered the muffled voice, which was getting progressively testier as the conversation wore on.

"That's barely a day's ride out. I doubt that's as far as we can go."

The faunus laying underneath the control panel of the Bullhead slid out and clambered to his feet with a huff. "Look Schnee, your doubts don't mean squat, okay? This thing is barely holding together, and I ain't about to fly this coffin out over the ocean."

Weiss crossed her arms, frowning at the man. He wore the tattered uniform of a former White Fang trooper, though unlike the others this one had maintained the red wolf of Sienna's faction. As if the way he glared at her didn't make that obvious enough.

A part of her wanted to tell him off, but the blistering heat around them made her hold her silence.

A few moments passed before she worked her jaw and responded, "Do you think we should only fly it halfway then? Rather than exploding in mid-air."

The faunus, whose traits weren't visible on his face, at least behind that old mask, looked surprised to hear she asked for his opinion but buried it quickly. "No, that would be too far out. They'd never make the journey. If we only had a bunch of healthy grunts I wouldn't mind landing halfway. It would be safer. Longer, but safer."

He ran a hand through his hair, "but as it stands most of the people we had a chance to save were pretty immobile, or will be if we make em' walk for that long. We're lucky one of these Transport-Variants survived its crash."

"Do you think we can get multiple Bullhead's together and all go in one trip? Or do you think we'll have to go back and forth?" Weiss asked, looking back through the doorway of the cockpit to the storage area. They could definitely cram people in here, Bullheads could easily handle the weight. Still, even with the wounded laying on top of each other, they wouldn't all fit. The model had been a prototype being put together by Vale in the wake of Beacon's fall, as the Council decided that larger transport vehicles were necessary for faster redeployment or evacuation in the future, rather than a swarm of smaller transports. That one had survived at all was a miracle in itself.

"Hm, I doubt it. Though, we could ask the healthy ones to walk I suppose? Would take a lot longer to get everyone out of here. This one has about sixteen seats, we can probably cram forty if people are okay with standing." The faunus tapped his chin in contemplation.

"We don't even know if the boats are seaworthy, though. What's the point if we don't know."

"Is getting on a leaky boat much worse than flying a damaged airship?"

The two stood in silence for a while, trying to work out any ideas on how to get the group quickly and safely to the shore without blowing up in the sky. The faunus snapped his fingers.

"We could send a team out on foot, with some people who know how to swing a hammer. They could go get the boats ready, or at the very least prep the site for the wounded. We only need to keep the medics, some muscle to move the wounded and an engineer or two to help me keep this thing breathing."

"Better yet, why not fly the engineers halfway out? It'll save us time and resources." The faunus made to cut her off, but she continued, "And yes, I know the risks. But think of it as a maiden voyage. Most of the soldiers have had their Aura unlocked, and at least know the basic techniques. They'd be able to survive a crash much better than a bunch of wounded. You can come back and make any repairs on things you noted going wrong on the first flight, too."

"That's a bad idea, honestly. What if I can't get the thing started for the second run? Then I've not got any supplies or manpower to help me fix the thing, and our resources will be split."

"I suppose, but look at it this way. If we have the healthy march on foot, and fly the engineers half-way, then hopefully the ships will be patched up by the time everyone finishes trekking through the desert. If the engineers aren't ready, then we've at the very least gotten them out of this scorching heat and into some of those proper medbay's on the boats."

The man glared at her before grunting in resigned agreement.

"Yeah, I guess that's pretty much all we can do. I'll let the scouts know about the plan as they trickle in. Now, let me get back to work, Schnee." The faunus turned and began to fiddle with wiring out of Weiss' expertise. She fought back a grimace as she stalked out of the ship. She had always been poor at this, even after all these years out of sheltered life. She could deal with people _she_ didn't like, but when the shoe was on the other foot it rankled her.

She stepped onto the dusty ground and shook her head, pushing the thoughts away for the moment. This wasn't the time for self doubt, not when they had bigger problems. A Vacuoan pulling a door as a makeshift sled passed by Weiss, giving her a short nod while he whistled a tune Weiss couldn't place. Piled high atop the sled was a bunch of what could only have been salvage from other crashes.

All around her, people either tended to the wounded, ate silently underneath shelters or tried to keep themselves busy. Weiss fell into the latter category, making her away around the camp for something useful to do.

To her surprise, it seemed that someone had finally stirred to do the same. As she made her way to the centre of the camp, a group of workers was piling beaten up boxes of ammunition, rations and medical supplies. Giving orders to them was an Atlesian, his helmet gone and his armour cracked. When she approached, the man looked up with recognition in his eyes.

"Ah, Miss Schnee. How are you feeling?" he asked casually, though the exhaustion he must have been feeling was etched across his face.

"Better, now that I'm up and about," Weiss stated, trying to show confidence and strength. When she had been all alone in the world, it didn't matter, but now that Jaune and Yang were here, Weiss felt the need to seem like she still had everything together. Something about his voice caught her ears.

It wasn't until she saw the bloody, yet clearly still pale blue rag tied around his arm that she realized it was the soldier who had pulled her out of Evernight a few days before. She owed the man, that was to be sure.

"You need that changed?' She pointed to his arm. "I think I've been shedding bits of this dress all morning."

The man barked a short laugh, much to her own surprise and that of the camp. A few people looked their way, before muttering something under their breath and turning back to their own business. The man pushed a mop of brown hair out of his face, shaking his head. "Appreciate the thought, but there are plenty more who need fresh bandages."

Weiss nodded, trying not to pay attention to how the man swayed on his feet ever so slightly.

"If you say so. Anything I can do to help...?" Weiss said.

He brightened, "Oh, the names' Grau, ma'am! Sergeant Grau!" the soldier snapped off a quick salute, somehow radiating parade poise with half his uniform in splinters. Still at attention, a look of thought flickered across his face. "Erm, well, normally I'd say you could go out and scavenge some more, but to be honest you look dead on your feet, ma'am."

Weiss straightened her back, not realizing how much she had been slouching. "I am not."

"Right. As you say, ma'am. Well, I'm trying to get our supplies ready for when we decide to move out. Any clue when that'll be? The boys are starting to get antsy sitting around here."

Weiss raised an eyebrow at that, "And why would I know that?"

Grau shrugged. "Figured you would, is all. Word in the army was that's how your sister operated. Me and the boys guessed you'd take charge like she did."

Weiss felt several eyes on her, and cast a glance at the group who had previously been stacking boxes. She didn't notice at the time, but they were all wearing what was or used to be Atlesian armor. They had all stopped working and were listening to her intently, clearly hoping for some direction. She felt a bit flustered at the idea, but pushed past it.

"Well as it turns out, I _do_ know. I was speaking with the man working on it. We'll probably be airborne in a day or two, maybe less. Sadly, there isn't enough room for everyone. The able bodied will have to make the journey on foot. When the wounded land, we'll need safe places for them to properly rest, as well as some transport to be secured. Our Bullhead can barely make the trip once, so we'll need a ship to get us there. The advanced team will prepare a vessel or two so that we can be ready to receive them. From there, we can hopefully make it to Argus and catch our breath."

The mood of the men rapidly changed from hopeful to one of discontent, muttering amongst themselves with agitation. "But," Weiss hurried to add, turning a few heads back towards her, "Once we get to the boats, we'll finally have some real beds and blankets to sleep on." Weiss finished with a smile. "We're almost there, just a little bit more is all it'll take."

And just like that, the men looked appeased. Morale was a funny thing, Weiss was learning. Let a bad mood fester and it spreads like a plague, same with a good mood. Maybe it was just the volatile mood everyone was in, but it felt treacherous. Fights had already started to brew in the camp without the larger threat hanging looming over their heads to keep them unified.

Grau gave her an appreciative look, before turning back to his men and snapping off orders. "You heard her! Let's hop to it and get this all logged, double time! Make sure no one is holding out on us, every bit counts!"

The Atlesians hurried to obey, scrambling off or stacking boxes with renewed vigor. Grau turned back to Weiss. "Thank you, ma'am. I don't know these men all too well, but if they're from the same stock as the rest of Atlas, they'll be happy to know that someone's still making calls up there."

"I'm not making calls, Sergeant. Just trying to survive like the rest of us." She bowed her head slightly and turned to walk away.

"As you say, ma'am."

* * *

"How is she?" Weiss asked softly, sitting next to Jaune, who was rested on one knee as he held his glowing hands above Yang's head.

"Her Aura keeps getting drained, healing her wounds. So, good and bad, I guess. Means her body is still fighting to live, which is exactly what want. Problem is that I can't exactly keep this up, Weiss." Jaune grunted, shifting into a more comfortable position.

"I… I know. Thank you, for everything," Weiss muttered, sliding her fingers between Yang's gnarled and callused hand.

"Hey, don't mention it," Jaune said. "But seriously, we need to get her out of here. The heat is probably hampering her healing process, and if she gets an infection or disease then she's finished."

Weiss grimaced in understanding. They had managed to coordinate the camp to a relatively clean part of the plains, but that wasn't a big help. The… rot... of the bodies was starting to reach their camp, and it was only a matter of time before someone got sick. The heat wasn't helping things either, and it was already starting to make people uncomfortable.

"I'll see what we can do; it won't be much longer, I promise. Is there anything I can do to help either of you? I can gather a bit of ice Dust from somewhere if you need to cool down."

"Nah, I'll be fine. I think a breeze is picking up, mercifully. Going to go nap soon and grab something to eat. Would you mind…?"

"Of course. Go rest Jaune, I'll wake you if anything changes," Weiss said with a kind smile.

"Good, good. Thanks." Jaune stood up, his semblance deactivating as he stretched with a loud yawn. With a whispered goodbye to Yang, Jaune sauntered towards a campfire.

Weiss turned her attention to Yang, lightly stroking the blonde's hand. Yang was covered in small cuts and bruises, though noticeably less as the days went on. Bandages littered her body, and her right leg was stuck in a brace cobbled together from the arms of an Atlesian Knight. Her prosthetic was still relatively intact, though it would definitely need maintenance when Yang woke-up.

Weiss could almost smile when she imagined how Yang would react to her state when she woke up. The amusement faded though, as Yang's irregular breathing continued and stuck in her ears. Sadness settled back onto Weiss' shoulders, a common occurrence these days when her mind wandered. Weiss was dreading the conversations that awaited them. And yet, she couldn't wait for Yang to wake up.

'It's just us now, Yang. I won't leave you behind, I promise."

She could have been imagining it, but she could almost feel Yang squeezing her hand.

* * *

**A/N: Chapter 2! Another build up chapter, where we start to see what this fic is going to be really focused on: People. I hope you guys enjoyed, please let me know what you think it's always awesome to hear back from everyone! It literally gives me energy to write. Also, school has kicked up again and hopefully Uni doesn't kick me right back, so I may not have a rock solid upload schedule but I'll be sure to keep posting as we go!**

**Till next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

As it turned out, moving a little under eighty people was rather difficult. Hardly even a day after she had last spoken to the White Fang engineer, one of his fellows had come up to Weiss as she and Jaune were sharing a meal. He said that the Bullhead was as ready as it was ever going to be, and that they needed to start preparing people for the move.

Weiss had expected a lot more grumbling, honestly. The idea that the reasonably healthy survivors would have to walk should have caused a lot of grumbling and even a few vocal dissenters, but it didn't. Instead, she got a few sighs of resignation, but mostly there were nods of approval.

"Is there a chance of multiple flights for some of the less fit, ma'am?" asked one of the Valeans, staring attentively despite his missing eye.

"We're lucky enough that we found a transport in the first place, much less one we could get airborne. We don't want to push it with back to back flights like that. This is the best option for everyone," Weiss answered, standing on a small rock outcropping.

There was a brief muttering among the assembled forces, and Weiss felt no small amount of pride that even old rivals like Atlas and Vacuo had seemingly crossed off old threats and grudges. This was it.

This was what peace should look like. A bunch of people coming together to choose the most sensible solution for everyone.

One of the women, practically a giant, spoke up. The broad cleaver's on her hips denoted her as a huntress.

"Can't the less fit ride instead of me? Both of my feet work. Mostly." She added with a wince as she shifted from one foot to another.

Surprisingly, it was the pilot who spoke up, agitation clear in his voice. "We need anyone with experience piecing things together to get the ships ready, and we need some of the larger guys to help load the wounded in the first place. And if worst comes to worst, they'll stand the best chance of carrying anyone out of a crash. People, we don't have the time to argue every part of this plan."

Weiss glared at the faunus, but he made no note of having noticing. She eventually just sighed and looked out among the survivors.

"Does anyone have any suggestions we haven't considered? I am open to any you may have, truly," Weiss said, trying to keep her tone friendly.

Whether it was out of agreement with the plan or resignation, the crowd was silent aside from a few muttered words of approval.

Weiss nodded, "No? Good. Break camp and get the wounded ready for transport. We'll try and be out of here in the next couple of hours."

The crowd broke off, and while none looked too happy they all seemed livelier than they had in days. Well, aside from the Vacuoans who always seemed to be in high spirits, joking about how the wastes were 'just like home.' Grau's Atlesians, who seemed to defer to her orders, simply nodded and began to shift supplies towards the Bullhead.

Weiss ran a hand down her face, unsurprised to see it come away covered in sweat and grime. She hopped off the outcropping, to where the White Fang engineer was talking to his two associates, both in Fang regalia.

"-sure that we don't have anyone pretending to be sick to get out of walking," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"Aye, you got it Lode," a woman nodded, before looking past the man Weiss now knew as Lode. "You've got a visitor."

Lode turned and gave her a look of irritation, before flicking his head at his two subordinates. The two walked past her, glaring at Weiss behind their masks as they went.

"Lode, was it?" Weiss said, trying to wipe the frown off her face. By the huff on his face, she could guess she had failed.

"Surprise-surprise Schnee, I have a name. Was just telling them to make sure no one gets any funny ideas about gettin' lazy," Lode said, crossing his arms. He still had the gall to wear that tasteless Grimm mask, even after all these years. Weiss was willing to bet it was attachment more than anything else.

"You know, they came all this way to save the world. I don't think cutting in line is going to be a top priority right now."

"If you say so. I know I would." Lode shrugged. "Look, I need you guys to help us get on a boat, then we can all go our separate ways, simple as that."

"Fair enough. In the mean time, though, I'll have to ask you to be less aggressive, it's no-" Weiss cut off as Grau jogged up to them.

"Ma'am," Grau nodded as he snapped off a quick salute to Weiss, who internally cringed at the deference. "The men were wondering what we should prioritize for transport. Won't be a lot of room."

"I don't think we'll need a lot of Dust, with the Grimm all gone, and our medical supplies are already pretty low. We can make two trips though, so food followed by the medicine. Any extra space we have can go to Dust."

Grau nodded, and was about to jog off before Lode spoke up. "Why not just bring it all?"

The soldier turned and raised an eyebrow at the faunus. "Did I stutter? There isn't enough-"

"Yeah, I got that. There's plenty of room on the outside though. If I fly careful enough, we can just load it up and carry it out using the Bullhead. Those things have way more carrying capacity than what you can fit inside."

Weiss nodded, remembering Ruby excitedly telling their team about the raid at the docks in Vale. It all seemed so far away these days. "And you can pull it off?"

Lode smirked, an action Weiss didn't think the dour man was capable of. "Of course. May take us a bit longer to get off the ground and going, but at least we won't have to worry about paddling our way back to civilisation."

"Good. We'll do it that way then, I think." She turned back to Grau. "No sense in bringing it with the first trip, since we'd just be dropping it in the middle of nowhere. Tell your men to prep it with help from Lode's friends. I just hope that it isn't too much weight with the rest of the wounded."

* * *

"This can't be all of them."

Jaune sighed and shook his head. He looked more worn out than anyone else still on two feet. "Well, I don't know what else to tell you, Weiss."

Weiss looked on in shock, trying to process the revealed information. Instead of the thirty wounded they had left, only about half of that had held on this long. Already, grim faced medics and volunteers were pulling blankets over the faces of the deceased and carrying them out of the campsite.

"But I thought they were fine last night?" Weiss whispered in disbelief, "How did this…"

"We'd lost a bunch overnight. Not enough meds to treat everyone as much as they should, and I could only keep so many up. Infection, we think. Or disease, we aren't really sure with all this rot going around. Four huntsmen slipped away while I was asleep." Jaune added that last part after a few moments. Weiss looked up and could finally place his exhaustion.

"Jaune… it's not your fault. You know that," Weiss said, giving him a fierce hug. Years ago, she would have been repulsed by the act. But after all they had been through, any bad blood or awkwardness had been burned away.

"Yeah… I know…" Jaune sighed, trying to put on a weak smile.

Weiss pulled away, worry on her face. "And Yang…?"

This time, Jaune's smile was real, if still small. "She's fine. Her Aura has finally started to stabilize, though I still need to keep a close eye on her. Her body is fighting _something_, and every so often her Aura just snaps. Still, it's a step up from needing to constantly use my Semblance."

Weiss gave a hum of understanding, the relief flowing through her still not washing away the unease Jaune's demeanor had left in her. It was hard to get a read on Jaune's mood, especially after the loss of a comrade. He always buried it, deeper than even she did. The loss of Nora and Ren… he hadn't even mentioned it yet. A part of her wanted to dig it out of him, but she knew that this wasn't the time or place for it.

That he hadn't fallen to pieces or gone silent was all she could ask of him right now.

"You'll be going on the second flight, by the way. I'm good enough to walk by now, and I need to make sure someone I can trust get the wounded get loaded safely. A few people here seem a bit callous about them."

"Right, I'll take care of it," Jaune replied. And with that, he stepped away and moved to help gather the rest of the bodies.

Weiss barely had the time to straighten out her tattered outfit before she heard Lode calling out for the first flight. Checking Myrtenaster out of muscle memory, Weiss started off towards the edge of the camp. Already, what passed for engineers were packing all their gear into the Bullhead and getting ready for the ride out, while the rest of the able-bodied were gathering for the long, miserable trek.

Belatedly, Weiss wondered if she could get away with flying away on a summon.

* * *

The ragtag group tried to make quick pace, but it was hard to keep going when they knew the only thing waiting for them at the end of the march was more work.

The Vacuoans had helped though, sharing tricks and tips to beat the heat, as well as singing songs as they skipped and scouted ahead. Weiss had grown up hearing about how lazy the citizens of Vacuo had been, though that had long since been pushed out of her mind.

Still, the gusto with which these tribesmen had carried themselves over the past few days was a sight to see. They had led the way in scavenging, rescues and offered tips on how to construct their makeshift shelters. Sadly, there weren't an abundance of them left in the group. Even then, they managed to drown out those who moaned and whined about the heat.

Mercifully, the group seemed to suffer through the march with the kind of stoic camaraderie of people who very simply just want to go home.

It was a few hours into the march that some of the Mistrali started to get antsy, chattering about how close they were getting. How they could recognize anything in this blasted terrain was beyond Weiss, but she had a feeling it was a mixture of hope and restlessness more than anything else.

The atmosphere was an odd one, the kind you get when everyone has already said goodbye to one another then moved down the same street. People made small conversations all around, though it was so audibly non-committal that it made Weiss wince. Still, she couldn't help but agree. Everyone was exhausted, not to mention still processing the… loss they had all experienced.

No one was really ready to make new friends, and old friends didn't have anything to say to each other. Still, it wasn't as though they disliked each other, but rather than there was nothing that anyone could casually chat about. Everything felt so far away, after a war.

Any mirth there may have been was silenced by the ominous black pools that dotted the landscape. As they approached Evernight, the army had been harried at every step by Grimm spawning from these bubbling pools. And now, it was almost more disturbing to see them completely still and unmoving. Weiss tried not to look at them for too long, and the group gave them a wide birth where they could

After nearly a day of marching in silence, the weathered group crested a hilltop and saw, off in the distance, a cluster of ships landed on a large, rough beach head. A ragged cheer went up, and Weiss found herself re-energized at the sight.

With newfound speed, they made their way to the shoreline, chattering loudly the distance seemed to roll away underneath them. Weiss couldn't help but notice how volatile morale seemed to be. Give people nothing to do, and they fester quickly with irritation and frustration. It seemed like it hardly took much to get the survivors into a pessimistic slump, but dragging them out took a lot of effort.

Though, for the moment, Weiss was just glad that a good mood seemed to hold.

It didn't take long for the ships to become clearly visible. There were plenty of small ships moored on the sand, tipped over and torn apart in their hulls as they were sailed straight into the beach. Those were hardly usable now, though at the time it made sense. They couldn't leave people behind to keep the boats out in the open water, and building a dock was just foolish.

All over the beach, engineers dragged and shouted at each other, already calling to the group as it approached. Weiss saw some of them clambering up the sides of vessels, in particular what appeared at first glance to be a wall of steel.

Where Atlas had invested in airships, Mistral had focused on creating the toughest vessels they could. The product of that investment was evident in the veritable wall of steel sitting in the shallows on the water.

Nearly a thousand feet long, and almost a dozen stories tall, the Mistrali _Corsair-class _Battleship was the jewel of Mistral's crown. Weiss had never seen one up close, but couldn't help but gawk at the bristling guns adorning its hull. She could see the heavy deck guns peeking out over the lip of the ship, and Weiss could only wonder how much firepower the whole vessel could bring to bear.

There were at least half a dozen all parked in the water, though two of them were considerably lower than the others, adorned in holes and at a precarious angle. How they were able to stay in the shallows without cutting into the sand and falling over confused Weiss until, upon closer inspection, she noticed small buoys of Gravity Dust glowing softly in the water.

"Why isn't there anyone here?" Weiss asked, looking at the completely abandoned warships.

"We couldn't bring em' to the fight, and every man was needed." answered one of the Mistrali, who was looking mournfully at the ships, "No chance of us being able to get these back home just yet. Hopefully, they'll hold up and not get dragged out.

Weiss turned to ask him another question when the group was approached by a man, one she recognized from the camp. He was wearing a torn green jacket, his face covered in sweat and his hands covered in grease. He stalked over, his toolbelt clanging loudly.

"It's about damn time!" He shouted, "I need ten men in each Corsair, grabbing all the medical supplies and tools you can find, now!"

Weiss looked back at the haggard group, making eye contact with Grau, in the middle, who shrugged.

"Ah, some of our group alre-" Weiss began, before the engineer waved his hands frantically.

"Now! Unless you want to stay on this sun-blasted rock forever!

Weiss stared at him, her mind whirring. Sending exhausted men to hard labour seemed a notoriously foolish task. On the other hand, they'd probably jump at the chance to be out of this heat.

"Alright, you heard him. Grab some friends and let's make this quick!" Weiss said, nodding at Grau. The more seasoned veterans jumped to it, clambering up loose rigging right away. The more independent huntsmen and soldiers dragged their feet, but were quickly corralled and paired off by Grau and some of the other like minded survivors.

Weiss turned back, only to find that the engineer had begun to march swiftly back up the beach. With an irritated sigh, Weiss jogged up alongside him.

"What's wrong?" She asked, getting straight to the point.

"What's wrong is that the only damn ship we could find is currently pushing out enough smoke to make the Brother's cough! And before you ask, _no, _we don't have the crew to sail any of these larger ships! We'd been hoping we could find a large transport, but the best we can do is the nautical equivalent of a school bus."

"Will it get us to Argus?" Weiss said.

The man stopped and turned to face her, confusion replacing his frustration, "What? Why Argus?"

"It's closer to us than Vale or Mistral, that's for sure."

"Yes, but it'll be like sailing a fridge to get there. Are you sure we ca-"

Weiss sighed and raised a hand to cut him off, "If you can think of somewhere we can go that won't cost us half the crew, do tell. But right now, we don't have enough food or water for a protracted voyage. I've been thinking about it for the whole walk here, and I believe it to be the best course."

The engineer shrugged, and they started to walk again. "If you say so. Look, Miss Schnee, was it?" Weiss could hardly resist rolling her eyes, "All I know is that people are going to be miserable in that thing already, and then telling them we've got to go north on top of that is going to raise some hackles."

"If you worry about making sure we don't sink, I'll keep a mutiny out of your hair… I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name Mister…?"

"Hayham. And whatever you say. Word to the wise, though. We aren't exactly shipwrights. This job won't last us too long once we're out on the ocean, though we can probably plug any problems we get." Hayham rubbed his eyes in his sleeve, spreading some of the grease. "God's, I just want to go home, collect my nice, fat, early retirement and pass out in my own damn bed."

"Soon, I should hope we all get that chance." Weiss said, "Though I doubt there'll be much rest on that ship." Weiss grimaced. _I told them they'd have a chance to rest. I guess that was a lie._

Up ahead was a comparatively small vessel, its cannons shorn off and pockmarked with rust and barnacles. Workers clambered over the vessel like ants, patching what they could and shouting orders at each other.

Weiss watched on, as Hayman patted his pockets down and swore under his breath. Weiss raised an eyebrow, but the low thrum of an engine made her eyes swivel back to the badlands, where the large troop transport was making its way over to the beachhead, a net full of supplies hanging from its belly.

Cheers sounded out across the beach as the last of the party came in for a landing, but died an ugly death as black smoke belched out from the surface below, scattering upwards like dust in the wind. All around the countryside, Weiss could see the faint pillars of black smoke rising, all scattering and fading away in the air.

The dust covered the Bullhead for a heart stopping moment, before the airship burst out and hurtled towards the survivors. People started to panic, but Weiss just readied her glyphs, prepared to break their fall.

Thankfully, at the last second the Bullhead pulled up and spun twice towards the beach, before losing its momentum and coming to rest in the air. Hovering in the air a few feet off the ground as two of the workers jumped off and quickly untied the supplies from the airship as its engines coughed pitifully.

All around, people abandoned their work and dashed towards the Bullhead, unloading the wounded. Jaune leapt out of the Bullhead and scrambled towards Weiss, his face pale, though this time it was clearly not from any air sickness.

"Jaune, what's happening?" Weiss asked eyes darting to the growing pillars of black, as Hayham made a grunt.

"It's the pools, Weiss. They're evaporating." Jaune said, his face flush with a canvas of emotions..

Behind her, Hayham popped his last cigarette in his mouth and lit it with a long pull.

"Ah, now _that_" Hayham sighed, "looks like overtime, I think."

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this took so long to get out, school has been brutal. But yeah, here we see some of the effects and character dynamics beginning to build up. This is probably the before last set-up chapter for the main story, and I'm really excited for you guys to see where I want to take this story. Some may have noticed I'm changing up the description of the story every now and then, and that's because I'm really trying to get something I think is perfect up there, so don't give it any mind!**

**Thanks again for all the favs, follows and reviews! **


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